Mike Alessi helmet cam! What is he doing???

[Cr85Expert52]

http://pub2.ezboard.com/fnjorvpridersposts.showMessage?topicID=830.topic

When this kid goes into turns does he just keep it in gear, his bike bogs a little than gets in the powerband. See when I get in a corner I downshift then don't get in the powerband so basically I can't clear the jump. Can I go into the corner in 3rd and brake to almost a stop pull the clutch in and rev it up and feather it out and take off, then get in the powerband and clear the jump. This way I don't need to shift and not make the jump.

 

[High Lord Gomer]

It's hard to use someone that good as an example sometimes because very few of us could ever ride that way.  If you notice, he was actually letting off for most of the jumps so he wouldn't *over* jump them.

If you can't get it into the powerband in 2nd then third, there's almost no chance of you pulling a gear high (3rd) out of the turn and slipping the clutch well enough to keep the RPMs up in the powerband.

The only time I would suggest using 3rd for turns on an 85 would be:

• wide, fast sweepers where you're going fast for 2nd, or
• Hitting a jump after a turn where you can't stay in 2nd, but winding out 2nd then shifting to 3rd happens very close to the jump face.

I was once at a track where I would run out of 2nd gear about 10 feet before the jump, so it was hit or miss that I might be able to catch 3rd just before takeoff.  A (better rider) friend told me to pull 3rd through the turn, slipping the clutch to keep the RPMs up, and I was able to make it more consistently, but it was very hard to slip the clutch just right to get good pull in 3rd gear coming out of a tight turn.

Looking back now that I'm a little better, I really doubt that I was revving out 2nd as far as I could have.  Smaller bikes like/need to be jumped "on the pipe", so you need to get used to riding it that way.

BTW, you don't really "fan" the clutch in and out, but rather feed it out smoothly, trying to get the right balance of RPM and drive.

 

[Cr85Expert52]

thats exactly what I do now I think about it. I don't pin it in 2nd. So what your saying is to stay in 2nd and get on the throttle. I'll try that on friday. Mike is pretty sick though isn't he

 

[yzeater]

Originally posted by High Lord Gomer
I was once at a track where I would run out of 2nd gear about 10 feet before the jump, so it was hit or miss that I might be able to catch 3rd just before takeoff.  A (better rider) friend told me to pull 3rd through the turn, slipping the clutch to keep the RPMs up, and I was able to make it more consistently, but it was very hard to slip the clutch just right to get good pull in 3rd gear coming out of a tight turn.

I completely agree with the higher-gear-if-there's-not-much-run theory. At a local track, I found out the hard way that pinning the throttle and clutching from a higher gear can get you a better approach on a jump than quickly shifting before it